Charles Halloway:
I know who you are. You are the autumn people. Where do you come from? The dust. Where do you go to? The grave.
Mr. Dark: Yes. We are the hungry ones. Your torments call us like dogs in the night. And we do feed, and feed well.
Charles Halloway: To stuff yourselves on other people's nightmares.
Mr. Dark: And butter our plain bread with delicious pain. So, you do understand a little.
Charles Halloway: You are known in this town. My father knew you.
Mr. Dark: Your father? The preacher? That half-man?
Charles Halloway: He lived on goodness.
Mr. Dark: Tasteless fare. Funerals, bad marriages, lost loves, lonely beds. That is our diet. We suck that misery and find it sweet. We search for more always. We can smell young boys ulcerating to be men a thousand miles off. And hear a middle-aged fool like yourself groaning with midnight despairs from halfway around the world.
Mr. Dark: Yes. We are the hungry ones. Your torments call us like dogs in the night. And we do feed, and feed well.
Charles Halloway: To stuff yourselves on other people's nightmares.
Mr. Dark: And butter our plain bread with delicious pain. So, you do understand a little.
Charles Halloway: You are known in this town. My father knew you.
Mr. Dark: Your father? The preacher? That half-man?
Charles Halloway: He lived on goodness.
Mr. Dark: Tasteless fare. Funerals, bad marriages, lost loves, lonely beds. That is our diet. We suck that misery and find it sweet. We search for more always. We can smell young boys ulcerating to be men a thousand miles off. And hear a middle-aged fool like yourself groaning with midnight despairs from halfway around the world.
Did you ever read, or see, 'Something Wicked This Way Comes?"
About Mr. Dark's Pandemonium Circus?
Well, no need.
We're living that hell as we speak.
Calder and I are jumping through one of the last hoops to get his driver's permit.
Which seems ironic;
as we are sitting in a city that serves as winter headquarters for over three circuses
-Hugo, Oklahoma.
(No, really. Look it up.)
When you choose the homeschool route
sometimes things like this (getting a driver's license) can be a little tricky.
sometimes things like this (getting a driver's license) can be a little tricky.
It takes a magician's maneuvering,
and sometimes on top of that-
an offering-
to make the Driver God's happy.
One of those offerings is to take an eighth grade reading assessment (here in Hugo.)
This is totally understandable.
Perfectly justifiable!
However, I assumed that this time
there would be one less hoop, because:
there would be one less hoop, because:
Calder already has his GED.
-Skunked it-
He took college placement tests.
-Did great-
He took his ACT.
-we'll call it 'acceptable'... until next time-
And he's enrolled full time at the local college.
-with a 4.0-
With documentation for all.
With documentation for all.
Calder's 16th Birthday
Nope.
Not enough.
The Oklahoma DOT Ringmaster,
aka Mr. Dark,
still insists on an eighth grade reading assessment.
Why does this asininity surprise me?
It shouldn't.
It shouldn't.
After all, it's coming from the same place that sent me an
absentee ballot this fall-
with Oklahoma stamped in big, fat, capital letters.
OFFICIAL OKLHOMA BALLOT
No. I did not misspell Oklahoma.
That would be The Autumn People.
....maybe I'm just hungry.
